Abstract
The hydrology of a 14,672 acre (5,940 ha) coal mine complex in Cambria County, Pennsylvania, USA, was characterized. This flooded mine complex was evaluated to determine the potential of using the mine water for downstream agricultural purposes in an adjoining watershed. The hydrologic characteristics of the mine complex dictate the amounts and rates of mine water discharge that are available. The original coal extraction rate was known to be 63%, but post-mining subsidence has reduced the effective porosity to a mean of 11%. Thus, the mine stores considerably less mine water than was anticipated, a priori. The mine receives vertical recharge averaging 0.27 gallons (gal) per minute per acre (24.6 L/s per ha), which is equivalent to 11.6% of the mean precipitation. The recharge rate fluctuates about the mean by ±22%. The low storage capacity combined with the moderately low recharge rates allow the large mine complex to be rapidly drawn down when the pumping rate is raised from 4.68 to 9.36 × 106 gal (17.7–35.4 × 106 L/day). Conversely, the mine refills rapidly, up to 0.8 ft (0.24 m) or spatially 33 acres (13.4 ha) per day, once the pumping rate is reduced back to 4.68 × 106 gal/day (17.7 × 106 L/day), which is well below the total recharge rate. In addition to vertical recharge, 6.3–40.4% of the inflow into the mine pool complex occurs from coal barrier seepage from an adjacent flooded mine. The seepage rates are relatively constant and are estimated to be insensitive to changes in head up to 50 ft (15.2 m).
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Michael Baker Jr Inc (1978) Blacklick Creek Watershed Mine Drainage Pollution Abatement Project Operation Scarlift. SL 185, prepared for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, 123 pp
Booth CJ (1984) The hydrogeological impact of deep longwall mining, Appalachian Plateau, Pennsylvania. In: Proceedings, NWWA Conference on the Impact of Mining on Ground Water, Denver, CO, pp 360–379
Booth CJ (1986) Strata-movement concepts and the hydrogeological impact of underground coal mining. Ground Water 24(4):507–515
Ferguson HF (1967) Valley stress release in the Allegheny Plateau. Eng Geol 4(1):63–71
Gwin, Dobson, and Foreman (1972) West Branch Susquehanna River Mine Drainage Pollution Abatement, Project Operation Scarlift. Prepared for Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, 181 pp
Heddinghaus TR, Sabol P (1991) A review of the Palmer Drought Severity Index and where do we go from here? In: Proceedings of 7th Conference on Applied Climatology, American Meteorological Soc, Boston, Massachusetts, USA, pp 242–246
Hershey RM, Meiser EW (2001) Evaluation of water availability at Barnes and Tucker Company Lancashire No. 15 Mine, Barr Township, Cambria County, Pennsylvania. Unpublished report prepared for RNS Services Inc by Meiser and Earl Inc, State College, PA, USA, 8 pp
Hiortdahl SN (1988) Hydrologic and mining data from an area of underground coal mining in Garrett County, Maryland. Maryland Geological Survey Report of Investigations #41-A, 81 pp
Iannacchione AT, Puglio DG (1979) Geology of the Lower Kittanning Coalbed and Related Mining and Methane Emission Problems in Cambria County, Pa. US Bureau of Mines Report of Investigations #8354, 31 pp
Mackay DM, Cherry JA (1989) Groundwater contamination: pump-and treat remediation. Environ Sci Technol 23(6):630–636
Palmer WC (1965) Meteorological drought. Research Paper # 45, Office of Climatology, US Weather Bureau, Washington, DC, USA, 58 pp
Tyrna PL, Phillipson SE (2001) A lineament analysis case study of the Fola Coal Co, LLC No. 2 surface mine, West Virginia. In: Proceedings of 20th international conference on ground control in mining, pp 378–385
U.S. EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) (1975) Inactive and abandoned underground mines water pollution prevention and control. US EPA-440/9-75-007, Washington DC, USA, 338 pp
Wahler WA & Assoc (1979) Dewatering active underground coal mines: technical aspects and cost-effectiveness. US EPA #600/7/79-124, 124 pp
Waite BA (1980) Barnes & Tucker Company Lancashire 24B and 24D Seam Mines Upper Freeport “D” Seam and Lower Kittanning “B” Seam Coals Ground Water Monitoring Plan. Unpubl report, 6 pp
Witherspoon PA, Wang JSY, Iwai K, Gale JE (1980) Validity of cubic law for fluid flow in a deformable rock fracture. Water Resour Res 16(6):1016–1024
Wyrick GG, Borchers JW (1981) Hydrologic effects on stress-relief fracturing in an Appalachian valley. US Geol Survey Water Supply Paper #2177, 51 pp
Acknowledgments
The authors thank our colleagues Eric Perry, Bob Evans, and Jack Felbinger for their significant contributions and in depth technical discussions. We also thank Dan Sammarco of Pennsylvania’s Bureau of Abandoned Mine Reclamation who was instrumental in the completion of the project. We also would like to thank the three anonymous reviewers for their constructive and helpful comments and suggestions. Finally, we express our gratitude to Dennis Lloyd of Lloyd Environmental for his generous sharing of data and insight of the entire mine complex.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Hawkins, J.W., Dunn, M. Hydrologic Characteristics of a 35-Year-Old Underground Mine Pool. Mine Water Environ 26, 150–159 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10230-007-0003-7
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10230-007-0003-7